I want to do what Gabe did. Leave off the Sport pack Get the pieces Ala Carte and get the JCW suspension and engine goodies.

Gabe, is the kit available through VDC installation? Although it’s not a difficult installation, dealerships just don’t inspire confidence, and the going rate in the SF Bay Area is $160/hr.

It’s available only at the dealers at this time. True – the kit would easily be installed by just about anyone with some wrench experience. But a dealer will have to get involved to update the ECU and that will take at least two hours. So you’re probably better off just going with the dealer and getting them to commit to just two hours of labor.

Gabe, is the kit available through VDC installation? Although it’s not a difficult installation, dealerships just don’t inspire confidence, and the going rate in the SF Bay Area is $160/hr.

As torque and horsepower are directly related, I can’t envision how you can gain torque across the board, but loose horsepower below 4000 RPM. Impossible.

My guess is those “dyno graphs” on the MINIUSA site have been fudged quite a bit.

http://www.mini.com/com/en/john_cooper_works/index.jsp

it seems like you get less HP at anything

Still can say that I would like to see them push the factory JCW a bit futher than they are talking about. No doubt it will be faster than the GP but keep hoping they will address the 209 hp that they are talking about.

If you swapped out for a after market air box and after market exhaust and just left the the JCW ECU upgrade could you get better HP and TQ gains? Yeah I know that would be very very pricey for $2300 ECU upgrade.

There’s no question that some aftermarket mods will be a bit more “aggressive” when it comes to wringing out a little more power. As with everything there are positives and negatives to most approaches. And remember… BMW is notorious for being conservative with their numbers. Just look at the stock figures that some R56 MCS’s are getting on the dyno.

I would think the shift points would also change from the software upgrade. The change in the sport button &/or manual shift mode mapping on the auto cars makes a big difference in the feel of the car.

When Ferrari designed and built the F430, they left the engine bay open, under a simple piece of glass. Why? To showcase the breathtaking beauty of the mechanical side of the car. I don’t care what it’s made of or how “cheap” it may appear- it’s beautiful because it’s there and it does something.

Now, I kind of want an R56… shame, since my R53 is exactly the way I like it!!

I’m fully aware of what it is and its neccesity, I’m disappointed in its execution – there are plenty of more elegent solutions, including other materials that function just as well at heat dispersal, to say nothing of its bent pie-tin school-of-styling aspects. I’m not a big fan of Potemkin theatricals like codpieces or merkins per se, but even a simple black plastic cover, JCW branded or not, would look better than the plumber’s hallucination as it stands now.